Under Night In-Birth's roster of characters is probably the coolest thing it has going for it. The main character Hyde is your standard sword using spikey-haired youth, but after that the roster gets absolutely sick. There's Waldstein, an old man the size of a building that uses claws that reach across the screen to grapple you. Gordeau is a trench-coated badass that uses a scythe that is longer than the screen itself. Merkava is some weird flying bat/shadow thing. Then there's a guy who fights with his own blood, a schoolgirl who fights with lasers, a hot samurai in jeans, and much more.

The graphics are some of the smoothest we've seen in a 2D fighter yet. As characters fling around their special and super moves, short anime cutscenes play in the background, showing attacks in a stylized fashion. The sprites themselves move incredibly fluidly around the screen, a must for air-dash fighters like this. The art is amazing, at least for anime fans, and all of this is backed up by a bitchin' rock and techno soundtrack.

So if the plethora of fighters currently on the market isn't doing it for you, check out Under Night In-Birth. It's in Japanese arcades right now, and if you are lucky you might find a cabinet here in America. Otherwise we will just have to wait for it to come to our shores.